


The perfect timing

by stressedoutteenager



Category: SKAM (TV)
Genre: F/M, Soulmate AU, Yousana AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-12-05 15:39:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11581068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stressedoutteenager/pseuds/stressedoutteenager
Summary: Soulmate AU: In which you turn 18 and see everything through your soulmate’s eyes when you’re not sleeping anymore but are not fully awake yet





	1. Chapter 1

Still a little hazy, eyes heavy, Yousef slowly starts waking up.   
In that moment he forgets why this Monday morning of him waking up is so important.

It's his birthday. His 18th birthday.

In that hazy phase he doesn't see his own room, he sees a blue room.

High ceilings, posters on the walls, a long window that seems to get closer. He can't see out of the window, the white curtains block his view.

His view changes slowly.

A white carpet with books spread all over it. One particular book stands out to him; he can make out the title of it.

It's the very first Harry Potter book. It's worn out, the pages waved a little, the bottom right corner of the cover torn.

He blinks one more time and it's gone. The room of his soulmate is not in front of his eyes anymore.

All he can see now is his same old, boring room. 

Sitting up, he starts smiling.

Yousef was one of the lucky ones. Not everyone gets to see their soulmate's room. The timing has to be perfectly right.

In that small time frame, when you're not asleep but not completely awake yet, you see everything through your soulmate's eyes.

Since most people see their soulmate's room, it _is_ where people usually wake up and spend the beginning of their day, it's the common question people get asked on their 18th birthday.

"Have you seen your soulmate's room this morning?"

That can only ever happen on your 18th birthday and only if your soulmate is already awake by the time you wake up.

Going to school on this particular Monday morning will be easier than it ever was.

"Yousef! Are you awake?", he hears his mother call from the other side of his door.

Leaning his head on the wall behind him, he calls: "Yes!"

"Breakfast is ready!"

He hears that but closes his eyes once more, trying to picture everything he has seen minutes ago.

Blue walls, high ceilings, books all over, tall window, posters on the walls. That one worn out book with the ripped off bottom right corner.

Reluctantly Yousef opens his eyes and leaves his bed.

Grabbing something out of his wardrobe he goes to the bathroom to take a shower.

The hot water running down his body, he finds himself closing his eyes and relaxing. That blue room appears in front of his eyes again. Is this everything he's going to see when he closes his eyes for the next days, weeks or even months?

His soulmate is out there somewhere. Does she already know how his room looks? Or was she not as lucky as he was? Is she 18 already? But how is he even going to know if he met his soulmate? It's not like he would immediately enter a girl's room if he felt like she was the one.

Shaking his head, Yousef steps out of the shower. He doesn't need this kind of thoughts, not now. Not on his birthday. He has more than enough time to worry about finding the right person any other day.

-

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday to yooooou!"

That's how Yousef is greeted by his friends at the gate to their school. Not only did Elias, Mutta, Adam and Mikael sing but also random people standing close enough to hear that people were singing Happy Birthday and just joined. 

"Thanks, guys!", is all Yousef can say before he is attacked with a group hug that almost makes him not be able to breathe. 

That's it. This is how he dies without having done anything with his life, Yousef thinks. 

His friends are crushing him but honestly, he doesn't mind. All of his friends make a bigger deal out of birthdays anyway, except for Mikael. He couldn't care less. 

"Have you seen your soulmate's room this morning?" Mutta is the first one to ask as soon as the group hug ends. 

Now, all eyes are on Yousef. Not only his friends look at him, no. The people standing close enough to be able to have heard that question directed to Yousef bluntly stare and obviously listen, not caring that it's a private conversation.

Yousef's eyes wander over each of his friends' faces and finally he nods. 

While all of them smile at Yousef, Mutta and Elias grin at him with ridiculously big smiles. They're obviously waiting for details but Yousef just smiles and walks past the boys that have been standing in front of him in a line. 

Yousef can hear his friends following him. Elias and Mutta on each side on him.

"You're not saying more?", Elias asks with a hopeful look.

"Guys, leave him alone. Seeing the room won't help him know if someone is his soulmate when he meets them.", Mikael comments, finding his spot next to Elias. 

Mutta glares at him: "Don't be so pessimistic."

"But it's true. We know Yousef won't end up in a girl's bedroom as soon as he thinks he might like her.", Adam comments. 

And with that, all the thoughts Yousef had that morning in the shower come back. Having seen his soulmate's room doesn't really help him in any way. Why does he still get so excited that he did? 

"I didn't see my soulmate's room and still have the same chance meeting and finding them.", Mikael says in a light tone, "But you know that I don't really believe in that soulmate stuff anyway."

"Oh God, guys. Lighten up a little.", Elias interrupts the ongoing conversation. He has always been the best at sensing when any of them is uncomfortable. Having that in mind, he still comments one more thing: "Well, I saw my soulmate's room and I, for one, think it could be a nice way of confirming the person I end up with is that person. And if not, great too."

They enter the school and before they split up to go their own ways to their classes, Yousef stops them and takes his backpack in his hands. Rummaging through it he takes out a few paper bags and hands each of the boys one. 

"My mom made cookies this morning already, and send these for you. You're all coming tonight, right?", Yousef says while handing the bags out. 

His mother goes into overdrive whenever it's someone's birthday, especially if it's Yousef's. Yousef never saw birthdays as something very special. That's why he barely ever celebrated it in a big fashion, even if the guys tried to convince him more than once. Right after school the boys and him would go to get ice cream or something sweet and spend time together just them five and in the afternoon he would go home and celebrate with his family. Of course the boys are invited to that, too. 

All of them nod, Adam and Elias having already bitten into the cookies. 

Elias and Yousef have Math together and the other three have Biology so they part ways. While Elias chews away on the delicious chocolate-chip cookie, Yousef thanks people that wish him a Happy Birthday when they walk past him. 

It's a good day. He saw his soulmate's room. Not that many people can say that. Even if it doesn't help him at all, he has the knowledge that he did see it. 

"Oh hey.", Yousef suddenly says turning to Elias and making him almost choke on the cookie he was eating. 

Yousef laughs at him but pats his back until Elias calms down again. "What?"

"My mom told me that you should tell your family to also come to ours later. Apparently they haven't seen each other in some time and my birthday is a good excuse for them to do that.", Yousef explains with a laugh because Elias is still glaring at him. 

"Hey, don't look at me like that. I'm the birthday boy."

"The birthday boy that almost killed me.", Elias answer, still glaring but his lips quirking upwards a little. 

"Oh come on. Don't be so dramatic!", Yousef says and sits down on his seat. Elias throws his stuff on the table and sits down next to him. 

Elias takes his phone out and without looking at Yousef says: "I'm texting mom now." Then, as if he just remembered something, Elias looks up to Yousef and tilts his head a little.

"Should I ask Sana, too?" Elias just looks at Yousef with his eyebrows raised, waiting for an answer.

Yousef is surprised by that question. Yes, to family gathering Elias and his family are always invited and Sana has joined them a few times but not as often as Elias' parents for example. 

Well, Yousef wished she did. Not that he would admit that to Elias. Or anyone, really. It took him so long to even admit it to himself. Sana is younger than him. Two years. It's a lot when you're still young. Additionally, she is his best friend's little sister. As if that is not enough, Yousef is convinced Sana is way too good for him. She's so smart, and really pretty.

He shakes his head to clear his thoughts. No, he just saw his soulmates room this morning. He should not be thinking about Sana now. Also, Elias is just staring at him and waiting for an answer.

"Yeah, sure. If she wants to come she's always welcome."

-

"Anne, tamam.", Yousef says while trying to not drop any of the plates. "We have more than enough food to feed all of Oslo. You can go sit down with aunt Nermin and we'll get the rest of the stuff to the living room."

Reluctantly his mother finally leaves the room and he turns around to Mikael, Mutta and Adam. Yousef doesn't even have to say anything and the boys start taking the food in various containers and plates and make their way to the living room. 

Yousef puts down the plates in his hand and hears the doorbell ring. He turns around to shout he'll get it but his parents are occupied with his relatives so that it really doesn't matter.

He opens the door and is faced by a grinning Elias, his parents and also Sana. When Yousef sees Sana he does a double take. 

Firstly, she is here. Which he hoped for but didn't believe would happen.

Secondly, she looks beautiful. 

Somehow he manages to takes his eyes off of her and opens the door more widely and greets the guests. 

"I'm happy you could make it!", Yousef tells them and is immediately pulled into a hug by Elias and Sana's mother. Elias and Yousef have been friends since preschool and she sees Yousef as another son. 

While Elias feels at home here and just waltzes into the living room, his parents slowly follow him and leave Sana back, who looks unsure of what to do. 

Yousef meets her gaze and they just smile at each other shortly. 

"Happy Birthday, Yousef.", Sana says and takes a step forward as if she wants to hug him. 

Yousef is not sure if she really wants to do that or if he is reading too much into her every movement. Not wanting to make her uncomfortable he takes the tiniest step he can towards her and answers her with a smile.

"Thank you. I'm happy you came.", he curses himself for saying the last part but when Sana smiles at him, showing her dimples, he quickly forgets about it. 

"Yousef! Need your help here!", the two of them hear being called, probably by one of Yousef's cousins. 

Yousef shows Sana an apologetic look and points her into the direction of the living room before he follows the voice. 

- 

"So, Yousef.", Yousef's older cousin Meryem says, "Did you see your soulmate's room this morning?"

Three of his cousins, Elias and Sana, and even two of Yousef's aunts turn to them. Yousef doesn't know how many times he has been asked this today. By friends, family, people from his classes he has never exchanged more than two sentences with and even just people that overheard that it's his 18th birthday. 

That so many people are staring at him doesn't make it more fun to answer the same question so he just nods. 

The imagines of what he saw this morning come to his mind again. He wouldn't have thought that he would be thinking of that blue room so often today. He did, though.

"What did you see?", another one of his cousins, Leyla, asks. 

At this Yousef's eyes go to Sana but he looks away quickly and ends up looking at all the people that are concentrating on him.  

He shrugs and hears Leyla and Meryem gasp. "Tell us! Not everyone has the chance to see that. Come on!"

Yousef smirks but shakes his head. "Let me have that for myself."

Elias contributes something to the conversations, as well: "He wouldn't tell us this morning either."

"It's personal.", Yousef tries to justify, which is also an actual reason why he doesn't want to tell everyone. Having a soulmate is very special but knowing something about them is even more special.

Elias scoffs: "I told you as soon as I saw it!"

Yousef laughs, so does Sana. Their eyes meet but both of them turn their eyes to Elias, a little shy. 

"That's because you always feel like sharing everything.", Yousef says.

"You're awful at keeping secrets, anyway.", Sana says at the same time.

Again, they look at each other and start laughing. The rest of the people listening to the conversation start laughing, too. However, probably not because of the same thing as Sana and Yousef.

In that moment Yousef only thinks one thing. Even when he tries to bury that hope deep down, somewhere he could forget about it sometime.


	2. Chapter 2

Sana is not really sure what to think about it. About seeing things through your soulmate's eyes for a very short time. You usually see their room. 

But how much does it actually help you to see your soulmate's room?

Nobody goes around asking people they are interested in what their room looks like. 

Why would they? 

It guarantees disappointment. If they describe something other than what you see... Hearing that they are not your soulmate won't make you more motivated to keep the relationship going or even pursuing it.

But, is there only one person that you should end up with to be happy?

No, that's not what Sana believes. There can't be just one person that you have to find to be happy. She believes there are several people that are destined to be a part of your life. For various reasons. A soulmate can also be just a friend. 

You don't necessarily need a significant other to be happy with your life. 

Despite thinking and believing all that, Sana gets more anxious the closer her 18th birthday gets. She might not need to see her soulmate's room to help her find him, but she is not against experiencing that.

From what she has heard, those few minutes, maybe just seconds, feel as peaceful as anyone has ever been. 

Elias told her. Jamilla told her. Mutta told her. Her mother told her. Chris told her.

That moment of not sleeping anymore but not being quite awake and having that bond with your soulmate, seeing what they see for just a few seconds, feels like you're floating. The only thing you're aware of is what you see through their eyes. 

Well, that's what Sana has been told by more than one person. 

Her birthday is not here for another half year. 

Walking through the flat, Sana holds her phone to her ear and just listens. She's the friend most of her friends come to rant about whatever bothers them.

"...and I don't know. I didn't see anything. He should've been awake at the same time. So does that mean he's not my soulmate? Okay, I get that we're young and all but I honestly thought that us finding our way back together after everything that happened would mean that we are destined to be with each other.", Sana hears Eva say without taking a breath.

Sana finds her way into the kitchen but just walks up and down aimlessly. 

"Eva, just breathe. Okay?", Sana tries to calm her down. 

The whole day at school Eva wouldn't talk about this topic but now she lets it all out at once. It's better than bottling it up. 

She hears Eva mumble an Okay. 

"Okay, I know this is probably not what you want to hear. But listen first, okay?", Sana says. She doesn't want to make Eva feel worse but since she is freaking out so much Sana has to say something. 

After hearing an agreeing sound, Sana takes a deep breath and starts talking, giving her opinion.

"I don't think you have much to worry about. Maybe Jonas was just not awake? He's late sometimes. And even if he was. Do you really think there is just that one person whose room you might see, that is the very only person you will be happy with?"

When Sana doesn't hear Eva say anything she knows that her friend is thinking about it. Sana takes this as a sign to continue.

"You're happy with him right now, aren't you?", Sana asks.

"Yes.", Eva just says.

Sana keeps pacing up and down her kitchen. She hopes she's saying the right things. She wouldn't want her friend to feel worse because of something she said, even if she means it. 

"Okay, so there's no problem. I believe that the room you see is not definite of whom you'll end up and be happy with. Of course, it's an indicator. And ending up with that person would be amazing. But come on, would you rather be with someone who is supposedly your soulmate but you don't know them and might not even get along too well with once you do. Or would you rather be with someone you know you love, know better than you know yourself, someone that makes you happy?"

Sana hears her friend sigh at the other end of the line. 

"You're right.", Eva says. Sana smiles at that. Her friend sounds calmer than before.

"And like I said before: we're still young. Things can change. But for now I'm happy with Jonas. Even when I hope it lasts, it might not. It's okay. Right now, I'm sure of how I feel towards him. Okay, thank you so much, Sana! Love you a lot."

"You too.", Sana says smilingly. 

"Sana, I mean it. You really calmed me down. And I should go talk to Jonas. I have been avoiding him all day. Thank you! And you know, if you need to talk about anything, I'm here. Right?", Eva rambles once again. If Sana wasn't friends with her for so long she wouldn't have been able to understand any of that. 

She nods with a smile, even though she knows that Eva can't see her. She's just glad that she could help Eva at least a little bit.

"Yes, I know. Thank you, Eva. And now go talk to Jonas. Don't let him suffer for much longer!", Sana laughs but then remembers something she meant to tell her friend. "Look, when you're getting really nervous or upset about this again... You can always call me, of course. But if you have something that can calm you down, always, use that. A song, an album, a book. I have a book that I read whenever things get overwhelming. It really helps."

After a minute more of just joking around they hang up. Sana lowers her phone and holds it in her hands in front of her body. She wonders if she will be like this in six months, as well. 

Well, not exactly the same. She doesn't have a boyfriend. 

The only person she can think of that might make her freak out like that is a tall, dark-haired boy that already knows what his soulmate's room looks like but won’t talk about it. 

"Yousef?", she asks with a embarrassing gasp.

Sana was so invested in the call with Eva she didn't notice if anyone else was in the room. Turning away from the window, where she has been standing, her breath catches in her throat when she sees Yousef standing at the kitchen door.

He looks like he has been caught. Sana presses her lips together, to not smile too much. He just looks very good in his white T-shirt and with his messy hair. She thought that the boys are outside, playing football. 

"Hi.", he says with small smile.

Sana nods and responds with a Hi of her own. 

"I just ... needed a break.", Yousef says, pointing out the window, meaning the boys in the garden.

Again, Sana just nods. Yousef and her have been talking more this year than any other time before that. It's usually just Small Talk but they talk, that's the important thing to Sana.

As much as she tries to bury her crush for him, it's not possible. As soon as she sees him it resurfaces. Every time.

Yousef hesitates but then sits down at the kitchen table, resting his head on his arms. 

"Are you okay?", Sana asks him. He looks really exhausted and probably not just from playing a little bit of football. 

Yousef turns his head towards Sana and awkwardly nods, with his head still on his arms. He smiles at Sana which makes it hard for her to concentrate on anything but that. Yousef has a very nice smile, Sana thinks.

She shakes her head to gather her thoughts and steps a little closer. She doesn't sit down but stands behind the chair across from the one Yousef sits on. 

 "Yeah, I'm fine. A little exhausted.", Yousef answers. 

Sana tilts her head to the side lightly. Yousef raises his eyebrows at that. 

"From kicking the ball a few times?", Sana asks with an amused smile. She has seen them  _play football_  a few minutes ago. Since most of them were fasting they just kicked the ball from where they were standing. 

At this Yousef lifts his head and leans forward, leaning on the table. He narrows his eyes at Sana, still smiling. 

"Try playing football with Mutta and then we'll talk again.", he says and chuckles lightly. Yousef shakes his head and continues: "No, but work was more exhausting than usual. We had a pool-day."

Sana puts her phone into her pocket and rests her hands on the back of the chair. She remembers where he's working, he had told her in passing.

"You're working in a kindergarten, right?", she still asks.

Yousef's eyes light up. Sana could be just imagining it, though. He nods and opens his mouth to say something but at that exact moment his phone beeps.

Sana's eyes follow his movement. How does he look attractive just trying to get his phone out of his pocket? When he looks up at Sana, after reading something, she feels caught and tries to casually look away. 

"Hey, Elias says that you have a basketball we could borrow.  Apparently they are bored with kicking the ball back and forth.", Yousef says. 

Sana slowly looks back at him but looks sceptical.

"He has a basketball??", she is sure of that. 

Yousef presses his lips together and shakes his head. When Sana looks at him with a confused look, he smiles at her sheepishly.

"He might have lost it the last time we went to play basketball at the court..."

Sana rolls her eyes at that. How does her older brother lose a basketball? But oh well, she can give them hers.

"Unbelievable.", she mutters under her breath and stands up straight. Now louder, Sana says: "I'll go get it from my room."

With that she turns away from him and walks out of the kitchen. 

Not knowing what else to do, Yousef stands up after a few moments and follows her. 

When he arrives at her door, she's already coming out her room again and all he sees is Sana smiling at him, her dimples showing, and holding the ball out to him. Her smile is distracting him so much that he misses catching the ball that rolled out of Sana's hand very slowly. 

It bounces off the floor, twice, and lands at Sana's feet. Before she closes the door to her room completely Yousef sees a white, fluffy- looking carpet. 

He leans down and takes the ball in his hands. Standing up again, he is greeted with an amused look given by Sana. 

She can't believe he did not catch the ball when she made a point in rolling it slowly off her hand. Well, it has its perks. Now he just smiles at her a little embarrassed, a little cute. 

"Please don't lose it.", she says.

Yousef grins at her, holding the basketball in front of his stomach with both hands.

"I'll make sure of it."


	3. Chapter 3

She doesn't care. She doesn't care. She doesn't care.

The one sentence Sana keeps repeating in her head. She needs to make herself believe this before she goes to bed. 

Does it work? Hopefully. Probably not. But hopefully. 

- 

Still a little hazy, eyes heavy, Sana slowly starts waking up.   
In that moment she forgets why this Sunday morning of her waking up is so special.  

It's her birthday. Her 18th birthday.

In that hazy phase she doesn't see her own room, she sees a dark grey wall.

Her view changes slowly. She realizes that the other three walls are white.

Shelves with videogames next to the window.

Her view changes once again, slowly. It's very blurry. A long-sleeved, dark blue shirt. Grey-white dots over one side of it. Tossed over a chair.

And that's it. 

She blinks one more time and it's gone. The room of her soulmate is not in front of her eyes anymore.

All she can see now is her same old, blue room. 

Squeezing her eyes shut for a few seconds, Sana opens her eyes and hopes to be in that hazy phase again. To feel so peaceful again. To not see anything but what her soulmate sees.

No, just her blue room.

Sitting up, she frowns. 

That was not even a minute. Why was it so short? She feels a longing to that feeling of being completely content that she had just seconds ago.

"Sana, are you awake?", she hears being called out from the other side of the door.

"Yeah.", Sana answers.

Her brother opens the door and comes in singing.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday to youuuu!"

Elias grins from ear to ear and finally jumps on Sana's bed.

He immediately crushes Sana in a big embrace and pats her back lightly. "My baby sister is getting older. When did all this time pass?"

The thing is, he sounds genuinely sad and nostalgic so Sana can't even give a sarcastic answer. She just hugs him back and leans her head against his shoulder.

When they part from the hug, Elias grins at his sister. Sana raises her eyebrows at him questioningly and sceptically.

"What?", Sana asks.

"I've got you a chocolate-chip muffin!", he declares proudly and shows it to her. He had been holding it behind his back the whole time. "I had to sneak in and out the kitchen without Mamma noticing. And I succeeded!"

Sana can help but burst out laughing. Her brother is the one person in her life that makes her laugh non-stop, no matter of what's going on.

Elias joins his sister and Sana asks: "Okay, but you sure we're not both still children?"

Her brother just smiles at that and stands up.

"Breakfast is ready.", he says before walking towards the door.

Sana looks at the muffin in her hand and just decides to ask her brother something she will be wondering the whole day if she doesn't ask.

"Elias!", she calls out and he quickly turns around. With his eyebrows raised, he waits for her to continue. "Could you close the door and come in?"

This makes him worried. His sister is still sitting in her bed, looking a little tired but at the same time like something's bothering her.

"What's up?"

Sana hesitates. She tries to act like she doesn't care; she tries to believe that she doesn't care. But she has to ask.

"For how long did you see your soulmate's room?"

As soon as the question leaves her mouth, Elias starts grinning and comes back to her bed. He sits down on one end.

"Did you see your soulmate's room?", he asks his sister. "Do you know whose room it is?"

Sana shakes her head: "How would I know whose room it is? But tell me, how long did you have your soulmate's room in front of your eyes?"

"Couple of minutes. Two or three maybe."

Oh, okay. So it is unusual that Sana only saw so little. Apparently her disappointment is clearly to be seen on her face because Elias' facial expression changes, as well. He knows he shouldn't push his sister so he's just waiting.

"I didn't see much. Not even a minute, I think. No details. Basically, it could be any teenager’s room."

She looks down on her hands fiddling with the hem of her shirt. Elias puts a comforting hand on her arm and tells her something that he hopes would make her feel better.

"Sana, you're the one that told me that it's not important to see your soulmate's room. And like Mikael always says, the chances of finding your soulmate are always the same, doesn't matter if you saw it or not. And look at it this way, at least you know how it feels now. That phase when you see things through their eyes."

Sana nods with a small smile. "I know. It's just... I'm one of the lucky ones. Not everyone gets to experience that. I just wish... that it was more than just knowing their wall colours, you know?"

Elias nods, smiling. "Yes, I get it. But Sana, if anyone is going to find their Soulmate it's you."

-

Her birthday being on the 24th December means a lot of things.

Her friends are all busy with their families and their holiday.

Most shops and public places are closed.

Her family spends all day together.

And since Elias' close friends don't celebrate Christmas either, they usually join them.

About half an hour after the breakfast Sana spent answering texts wishing her a Happy Birthday. To be honest, most of these texts also had the sentence: "Did you see your soulmate's room this morning?" in them but Sana ignored those.

At around 12 am Sana is sitting at the kitchen table and reading while her mother is already cooking and backing for later.

Sana's family will be coming here in the afternoon to celebrate her birthday which means that her mother will make so much food that they could feed all of Oslo and neighbouring cities.

The book she's reading and the smell of delicious food calms Sana.

Somehow, she is still disappointed over the fact that she only saw so little of her soulmate's room.

When she reads over the first sentences of the book she always reads when she's feeling overwhelmed and doesn't know what to do with herself and can't understand anything for the fifth time, she closes it for a moment.

Her mother is singing along to the song playing from the radio.

Sana sighs.

"What is going on? You've been quiet all morning. Aren't you happy to finally be 18?" Her mother asks without turning around.

Instead of answering her mother's question, she asks one herself: "Mamma, can I ask you something?"

To that her mother turns around: "Of course."

"What could be the reason for me to only see what my soulmate saw for less than a minute?", now that she asked this she can't hold back. "Everyone that told me about what they saw ... well, it all was at least two minutes. They could make out a lot, even details. I couldn't."

Yes, the mantra in her head last night didn't work.

"It could be that they were just waking up themselves or they were falling back asleep.", Sana's mother says and that's all she can say.

She should have heard them before but now Elias and his four best friends storm into the kitchen.

"Oh, here you are!", Sana hears Adam say before he runs over to her.

She closes her book once more, she had opened and closed it while talking one too many times, and stands up when Adam goes to hug her.

"Happy Birthday! Now you're finally an adult!", Adam says and squeezes Sana in a hug.

"Adam, she's always been more of an adult then we all are.", Yousef says with a smile.

Sana looks at him and just smiles. He was one of the first people to wish her a happy birthday over text.

Well, they have been texting a lot lately so it would've been rude if he didn't. Especially because they were talking before Sana went to bed right before midnight.

"I take offense to that!", Mikael objects but nobody reacts.

Instead all of the other boys join the hug. Usually, they are very reserved when it comes to show their love for Sana physically but since they found out that Sana doesn't mind being hugged, they do it all the time. And on her birthday, it would be awful not to.   
Mutta is the first one to leave the hug to sit down at the table. Sana follows him and puts her hands on her book again.   
It's the very first Harry Potter book she reads whenever she feels overwhelmed which was the case today, thanks to her stupid soulmate falling back asleep while she was waking up.

Mutta sits across from Sana and leans forward, resting his arms on the table.   
"So, Sana. Tell me, did you see your soulmate's room this morning?"

Following this question, all eyes are on her.

She knows she shouldn't, but the first person she looks at is Yousef. He's standing behind Mutta's chair, arms crossed over his chest, just smiling at Sana. 

That makes her look away. He can't smile at her like that while other people are in the room and expect her to not break out in a grin. 

"Yeah.", Sana simply answers. 

At that Yousef's eyes widen and he stands up a bit more straight. His eyes follow the small movements of Sana's fingers on the book she's almost covering completely with her arms. 

He doesn't like to admit it, not even to himself, but suddenly he remembers something Sana has said about half a year ago. Not even to him. He was just arriving at the kitchen to take a break and have a minute of silence. 

She has a book she reads whenever she feels overwhelmed. Can that one she's fiddling with right now be it? 

As soon as he had arrived in the kitchen Yousef noticed the worry line in between her eyebrows. That Elias had mentioned that they might need to cheer Sana up a little just confirms his thought. However, when Elias told him that Yousef thought Sana did not see her soulmate's room and was upset because of that and not because she did.

"Aren't you going to tell us what you saw?", Mutta asks with a smile. He is way too into this soulmate stuff. Even more than Yousef. 

Sana looks at him and glances at her brother shortly. What does that look mean, Yousef wonders. 

"No.", Sana says and presses her lips together for a second, "I couldn't if I wanted to."

"But didn't you say you saw it?", Yousef finds himself ask. Why did he ask?

He has this very adamant thought in his head. _Please describe my room, please describe my room!_

And at the same time he doesn't want her to say anything. If she described something other than his room his heart would break.

Yousef had this tiny glimmer of hope. About Sana being his soulmate. They have been talking a lot recently. They get along so well. They can talk about everything and anything without feeling like they will be judged. They start texting in the morning and only stop right before going to bed. Yousef feels most happy lately, when he is near her. Even if she's just sitting in the same room and doing her thing while Yousef is busy with the boys. 

Aren't those all things that could hint that she's his soulmate. Or is he just being too hopeful?

There's one more thing he needs to sort out but when Sana answers him he kind of forgets it for a minute.

"Well, I didn't see much. Not even a minute.", she shrugs and stands up from the table, hugging her book to her chest and leaving the room. 

-

Adam, Mikael and Mutta had left and would come back to the Bakkoush house in the evening, with their families. Yousef, well, he didn't.

He's lying on the floor of Elias' room and staring at the ceiling. 

"Elias?", he asks. They have been in this position, Elias on his bed with his laptop and editing something, and Yousef on the floor for almost forty-five minutes. 

"Hmm?", Elias says but doesn't look up.

"What did your soulmate's room look like again?", Yousef asks, not taking his eyes away from the ceiling. 

That's why he doesn't notice Elias looking away from his laptop and to his friend. He narrows his eyes at Yousef suspiciously, having a small idea as to why he would ask that especially on the 24th December when he already knows it. 

"White walls, a lot of bookshelves, green bean bag, a wooden desk with school stuff and make-up on it. White fluffy-carpet, clothes hanging over chairs and the wardrobe door open.", Elias lists. He might think of this one too many times. 

Yousef sighs.

"White fluffy carpet."

It's disappointing. The only thing Yousef saw from Sana's room is something so many people have in their rooms. Elias' soulmate, his cousin's soulmate, his neighbour and all of his siblings. 

He wishes he could just stand up and waltz into Sana's room and just see if she's it or not. Not that it would change his opinion about or his feelings towards her. 

He just wishes he finally knew.

But he knows there are boundaries you don't cross.

None of the boys was ever in Sana's room. Nobody ever said they weren't allowed to but it's just a common understanding. It doesn't matter how well they get along.

Yousef covers his face with his hands and sighs. This shouldn't be this hard. He shouldn't care if Sana is his soulmate or not. There is not just one person that can make you happy, that you can make happy when you're together.

Sana makes him happy even when all they did so far is play basketball and talk. That's more than enough for now. Yousef knows he wants to be with Sana. He doesn't need to know if she's the person whose room he saw... but it wouldn't hurt. 

 

"Elias!", both boys hear minutes later. It's obviously Sana.

 Elias and Yousef look at each other worried and both immediately shoot up from their spots and run out of the room.

Elias leads the way and finds Sana in the living room, and barges in. Sana's call was very high-pitched and she never sounds like that.

What they find in the living room is ... interesting. Elias doesn't know if he should laugh or rush over to his little sister and help. 

Sana is standing at the window, holding it up with both hands and having to stand on her tiptoes for it to not fall. 

"Could you maybe come over here and help instead of just looking?", Sana asks through her teeth. 

That makes the boys snap out of it and run over to her. Elias takes one end of the window, Yousef the other so Sana can let her arms falls. She sighs in relief and watches as the boys push the window back into its place.

"How did you even do this?", Yousef asks Sana, trying to look over his shoulder and almost letting his side fall. The part of the window that can be opened was falling out of it hinges. 

Elias knows what he's doing because the same thing had happened to him the previous night. 

"I wanted to open the window for a bit of fresh air and forgot that the window will only be repaired after the holidays.", Sana explains. She had feared that the huge glass would break.

Her older brother turns away from the window towards her and grins. Even Yousef doesn't know why he's grinning like that. 

Sana narrows her eyes at her brother. "What?"

She then quickly looks over to Yousef who has been already looking at her. How is he supposed to look anywhere but at her when she looks this beautiful? Instead of looking away, he smiles at her which she answers to with a smile of her own.

The moment is over when Elias says: "I just saw Aunt Aisha's car pull up. You probably have 5 seconds before she rings the doorbell."

Sana's eyes widen and she sprints out of the room. Even Yousef knows that this aunt has this weird thing about being greeted right at the door, not wanting to wait a minute after she rings the doorbell. Yousef watches her run to the door and smiles to himself.

Yousef was so distracted by Sana being cute that he didn't notice Elias sitting down on the couch. So he lets himself fall on it, next to his best friend. But he lands on something.

Furrowing his eyebrows Yousef fishes it out from under him. It's a book. He doesn't think much of it and leans back once again. Until he sees the title of the book on the back cover.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

His heart starts beating faster. He's aware that it's a book many people have read and a book many people love. 

But now, when he's holding the pretty worn out book in his hands, he has a hard time breathing. The fear of being disappointed keeps him from turning the book around to look at the bottom right corner on the front. 

A few moments later, he takes a deep breath as he turns the book in his hands and stares at the big title on the front cover. His eyes wanting to wander south, to see if the right bottom corner is torn. 

He can't even prepare himself, his eyes just slip down and see it. 

The torn bottom right corner of the front cover. 

Looking exactly like the book in his soulmate's room. The same worn out, lightly torn, old book.

"Dude, be careful. That's Sana's book to always make her feel better.", Elias says, not knowing how important that is. 


	4. Chapter 4

_'Why did I see less than a minute of my soulmate's room?'_

_'Reasons for only seeing blurry through your soulmate's eyes'_

_'Usual amount of time seeing your soulmate's room'_

Sana has been sitting on her bed, googling these types of question the whole afternoon.

She didn't want to care. She tried to ignore the thoughts regarding her soulmate since her birthday. It’s been a week now.

It didn't work. Obviously.

She's interested, though. Why would she only see so little and then only blurry things?

_The average amount of time for people to see through their soulmates eyes is two and a half minutes. Still, there can be exceptions. Some people have been reporting to have seen what their soulmate saw for more than three minutes._

Sana frowns. They're talking about two and a half minutes. Or even more. Her stomach drops and she hopes to find something else, an answer to satisfy her.

_Simple answer for seeing things blurry in that phase is that you were simply too tired._

Sana shakes her head. That's not right. None of her friends or family told her about seeing things blurry. Not even random people at school. Yes, in the beginning but not throughout the whole thing. 

_The common held belief that the blurriness is caused by your soulmate falling back asleep, has been proven wrong._

Sana furrows her eyebrows at this article. People really do research about this? Well, if they didn't Sana couldn't be reading about it now.

Is there something wrong with her? Why does it seem like there is no answer to her question.

Right when Sana is about to give up to find a satisfying answer, because she needs to leave the house soon, her eye catches something promising.

Before clicking on it all she can read is:  _This is how my soulmate made me hate him before I even met him!_

Sana doesn't hate her soulmate, whoever that is. But she's frustrated about how things happened and if she needs to blame someone other than herself... they would be on the receiving end.

So she clicks on the post.

 _As the title says, my soulmate made me hate him before I even met him! Why? Because that dumbass, who's now my husband and whom I love very much, knew that I was his soulmate because he had seen my room on his birthday weeks before mine. He woke up early and just sat on his bed, hoping I'd wake up and see his room. See that he's my soulmate. He knew I would recognize that room immediately. We've been friends forever._  
_He was the reason why I only saw his room for less than a minute and he was the reason why anything I saw was blurry._  
_Well, speaking to many people about this, including some experts I may have contacted before I knew why my experience on my 18th birthday was so different from my friends' and family's, I'm pretty sure about my answer._

_When your soulmate suspects you of being their soulmate and they think about you while you're in that hazy phase, then it's very likely for you to have a blurry vision and for that to last less than a minute._

Sana leans back, resting her head on the wall. She stares at the ceiling and thinks about it. Has this been fact checked or did someone just make this up?   
It's scary to her, though. Everything this guy has explained fits perfectly to what Sana has experienced.

She doesn't have time to think about it too much because she gets a text from Chris saying they're outside, waiting for her.

Somehow, none of her friends wanted to go to a big party on this year's New Year’s Eve. Instead they choose to go to Noora's flat and watch movies and eat their way into the New Year.

That was fine by Sana; she didn't feel like doing much else anyway.

Grabbing her bag and checking if she has her keys and phone she leaves her room.

Even though Chris, Vilde and Eva are all together in the Van outside of Sana's house those three are texting in the group chat.

Reading those while walking is not the best idea, not when the other person in the hallway is doing something similar.

Sana crashes into someone. Since her brother's friends are here once again, there are a few possibilities of who it is but looking up from her phone, mumbling a sorry, Sana sees Yousef standing in front of her.

She's surprised. She hasn't seen him in a week. Since her birthday. The other guys were here as per usual but Yousef wasn't. Well, that's what Sana thought until her mother had asked Elias at the breakfast table why Yousef left so much earlier than the rest of the guys the day before.

He wasn't there when Sana left the house and he wasn't there when Sana came back.

She's not that self-centred that she thinks it's because of her. But he also didn't text her in the past week. Not once. He did not even answer to a stupid meme Sana sent him, thinking he'd enjoy it.

So seeing him now, after a week, feels like seeing him the first time in ages.

"I.. sorry. Didn't know you were home.", Yousef says, taking a step back.

He smiles at Sana weakly, not convincingly. His eyes wander over Sana's face and she smiles just as not convincingly as him.

She can't bite her tongue and quietly mumbles: "You wouldn't be here if you knew."

Well, Yousef still hears it and she's glad that he did. He alternates between looking at her for a few seconds and then not being able to look her in the eyes for the next seconds.

Sana sighs. What did she do wrong?

Awkwardly standing there is not what her plans were for today, not even if it's with Yousef. Looking down on her phone and seeing the girls text her non-stop to come downstairs she sighs and looks right at Yousef.

He's been looking at Sana with a look that she can't interpret.

"Look, Yousef.", she says which makes him look at her with wide eyes. "I made my life a lot harder by not talking about things straight out so whatever I did that makes you so distant or if you just don't want to talk to me anymore, you need tell me and not avoid me."

She walks past him and closes her eyes for a moment. Talking about problems helps solve those, she learned that the hard way but she's really not going to suffer more than this one week because they didn't talk to each other. Still, she can barely breathe while putting on her shoes.

She likes Yousef, a lot. She thought he might like him too. But now he didn't talk to her for a week and apparently he avoided seeing her at all costs. She doesn't dare to check if he's still standing there or if he's already gone when she opens the front door.

-

"You know what I need?", Sana asks over the phone, a day later.

She's sitting in the kitchen, eating some of the dessert her mom had made the previous day and talking to Chris over the phone.

"What? Tell me!", Chris answers.

Sana takes another forkful of the chocolaty heaven in front of her and starts talking. She gestures with the fork while doing that.

"I need for people to speak up. If they have a problem with someone, just go talk to them. It's not that hard. I learned to do that. It's a whole lot better than ignoring people and avoiding them. Tell them how it is and it's done."

Sana can't stop talking once she starts. Chris left the movie marathon early last night because her family went to a cabin. Otherwise they would have talked in person.

Now she doesn't even get to hear Chris' answer because she has to hang up when as usual five boys storm into the kitchen after each other. Are they ever alone? And didn't they sleep over at Yousef's? Elias had texted Sana yesterday evening to tell her that after Sana left the boys decided to go to Yousef's for a change and that they all would sleep over there. Just so Sana doesn’t worry about Elias’ whereabouts.   
If they would end up in the Bakkoush house the next noon why would they even bother taking all their stuff to Yousef's?

Not that those boys make any sense, anyway.

"Sana!", Elias says very enthusiastically.

Sana raises her eyebrows in a questioning manner. Why is he so overly happy?

"Elias!", she answers in the same tone.   
Mikael looks between the siblings and decides to say something.

"Okay, sorry to interrupt but..", his eyes are drawn to the chocolate cake in front of Sana, "... that looks way too good. Can I have some?"

Sana nods: "Sure, help yourself."

Usually it would be anyone but him that would ask that question.

Sana lets her eyes wander over the boys standing in her kitchen.   
Elias and Mutta are just smiling a lot at Sana, actually grinning, and swaying back and forth on their feet.

She narrows her eyes at them. What's up?

Then she sees Adam who stands at the window and has his lips pressed together. He keeps looking at Sana, to the kitchen door and back at her.

She follows his gaze and of course Yousef is standing at the door. She catches him looking at her. With a smile. Not a forced one. The complete opposite of the day before.

Sana feels herself get happier instantly but she forces herself to stay controlled, to not quickly fall back to how things were before her birthday. She still had to talk to Yousef or rather let him explain.

When she doesn't smile back, Yousef's smile falters but a small smile still plays on his lips.

This is very weird. None of them talk, all of them look at Sana. Mikael is stuffing his face with the cake but doesn't even look like he's enjoying it too much.

"What's up with you all today?"

"Nothing!", Adam is the first one to blurt out. After that he presses his lips together again. His eyes going to Yousef and grinning at him.

"How are you?", Mikael asks her with his mouth full. Mikael talking with his mouth full is probably the weirdest thing about all of this. He's the one to scold Mutta anytime he eats too loudly or speaks with food in his mouth.

"Good.", Sana answers sceptically, narrowing her eyes. "Are you sure you all are okay?"

Elias is the one to answer his little sister, walking over to her and standing behind her chair. He leans down and hugs her closely and answers when he lets her go.

"We're great. Really. Amazing. And you?"

"Like I said.. good but why are you..", she stops talking when they all hear a loud noise.

It's coming from Adam and everyone turns to him. "Dropped my phone.", he says sheepishly and leans down to pick it up.

It's only then that Sana notices something.

Adam's wearing a dark blue shirt. A dark blue shirt with dark grey and white splatters over one side.

Sana's eyes widen and she blinks a few times to make sure she sees it correctly.

It's the same shirt as the one that was draped over a chair in her soulmate's room. It's similar, at least. Very similar.

Sana suddenly finds it hard to breathe. Her chest rises and falls way too quickly. Her heart aches.

Is it really the same shirt? It's awfully similar. And it's definitely not a shirt she has seen on anyone else so far and men's fashion is very limited.

When Adam stands back up and sees Sana staring at him, rather at his side, with her eyebrows furrowed and a slight frown on her face, he gets worried.

Did they say something to upset her?

Sana notices him looking back at her and now finally looks at him, not just at his shirt.

"Adam, your shirt... it's nice."

He looks down on himself and looks back up with smile. He looks at his friends standing somewhere in the room with a knowing look before he answers Sana.

"Yeah, that happened when we painted the walls but it looks good and I somehow ended up wearing it today."

When they painted the walls.

One dark grey wall and three white walls.

This doesn't make sense to Sana. She always thought that Adam and Mikael... that Yousef and her maybe...

She gulps and just slowly nods, forcing herself to smile a little.

Suddenly she feels like she's being suffocated. She lowers her gaze to the table and closes her eyes for a second.   
Then she just stands up and has to leave. She likes Adam but only as a friend. A good friend, but a friend. In her hurry to get out of the room she doesn't look at any of the boys.

She doesn't look at Yousef while passing him to get out of the kitchen.


	5. Chapter 5

How is Sana supposed to forget about it when she hears the voices of those two people she wants to forget for a while coming from her backyard. 

It's winter. It's really cold outside. Why the hell are her brother and his friends hanging out in the backyard?

She hears Yousef's voice and freezes. Her heart aches at the thought that he's not her soulmate. Sana knows that your soulmate is not the only person that you can end up with and be happy. Still, there is this small voice in the back corner of her head that keeps repeating:  _it's not him, why even bother?_

But that's the thing. Sana can't control her feelings _._  She likes Yousef, a lot. He understands her. He is always there when she needed him even without her having to tell him that. He thinks of her a lot and surprises her with small things. He never judges her. He did all that while they were still 'just friends'.

She can't take it anymore. She doesn't want to hear their voices. Sana jumps off her bed and quickly goes to her window, closing it. Well, apparently the boys decided, exactly in that moment, that they want to go inside because Sana sees them walk to the back door. 

One of them looks up at her window. Yousef. When he sees Sana standing there he smiles at her which makes Sana's stomach sink. 

Whatever made him avoid her for a week straight is probably solved, even when they have not talked about it yet. Now, since the previous day Sana has been the one to not be able to look at him. She feels guilty. Yousef is not her soulmate and she feels bad about it. She shouldn't. Because it doesn't matter. She likes him and hopefully he likes her back. 

But until that awful sinking feeling in her stomach she gets whenever she thinks of him not being the one whose room she saw on her 18th birthday goes away, she won't be able to look him in the eyes.

"Sana! The pizza is here!", she hears Elias shout. 

She's really hungry but is it worth facing Yousef and Adam. Sure of the fact that she will be awkward around them without them knowing why makes her doubt it. But she is really hungry. So she stands up reluctantly. 

"Sana!", Elias shouts again as she steps into the hallway.

"Coming.", she answers.

Five minutes later she sits there, in her living room and observes the boys. Well, two of them. 

While Elias, Yousef and Mutta are discussing something Sana doesn't care about, Adam and Mikael are sitting on the couch and talking. Very closely. Obviously in their own little bubble. Mikael laughs about Adam smearing some cheese on his own cheek; however he managed to do that. 

They're really comfortable with each other. Yes, all of the five boys are comfortable with each other and don't shy away from physical contact but Mikael and Adam are different with each other. Sana always knew that. It was very obvious to her from the moment she started hanging out with them. 

Out of nowhere a thought comes to Sana's mind. She stops eating.

Maybe that's why she only saw so little of her soulmate's room. Maybe that's why all she saw was so blurry. 

Because Adam might be her soulmate but his soulmate is someone else, Mikael.

Sana had heard of this possibility. It's supposed to be very rare. 

 

-

Yousef is supposed to listen to his friends and their ideas for a YouTube video but honestly, he can't be bothered. Not when Sana is sitting a few metres away from him, eating her pizza and not taking her eyes off Adam. She has been distant in the past two days. He knows he has no right to complain about that, he was the one who freaked out when he finally had some proof that Sana could be his soulmate.

That book.

He had overheard Sana telling her friend that she has a book she always reads when she gets overwhelmed.

On his 18th birthday he saw the first Harry Potter book, worn out and with a torn bottom right corner.

On Sana's 18th birthday he found her book, the first Harry Potter book, worn out and with a torn bottom right corner. 

That Elias told him that it is Sana's feel-better book made it certain for him. 

In that excitement he didn't know what to do. He just blurted out: "Elias, what colour is Sana's room?"

And while Elias answered with blue, rather suspiciously, Yousef had no idea what to do with himself. He always had a feeling that Sana is his soulmate but he couldn't just go and ask her. What if she wasn't? But she is!

Well, he freaked out. He thought if he was around Sana he would blurt it out, make her feel like she has to do something about the fact that she's his soulmate. 

And, she didn't tell anyone what she saw. At least none of the boys and not even her mother. Only that she saw blurry things, mainly wall colours. 

So he could not just dump all that information on her. Plus, there was still the possibility that she is his soulmate but he is not hers. Supposedly that's very rare but it can happen.

It all overwhelmed him. He never thought this would do that but it did. Of course the boys noticed that something was up. After Sana's birthday, when Yousef, who always is the one most keen on hanging out at the Bakkoush house, kept asking if they can go out or meet at someone else's house. 

And on New Year's Eve, when he convinced them to sleep over at his and not at Elias', they made him talk. They know how to get information out of Yousef very well, they have been friends forever. It ended with Yousef confessing that Sana is probably his soulmate. 

As soon as the words had left his mouth the boys all jumped on him to hug him and congratulate him. When that died down, after a long time, their comments did not stop. All of them similar to each other.

"I mean, we all knew you were perfect for each other anyway."

"Dude, she's my sister but even I'm rooting for you two!"

"Okay but she has no idea you're her soulmate, right?", Mikael had asked, sounding genuinely disappointed and he's the one who couldn't care less about this concept.

Needless to say that made Yousef worry even more but Elias proceeded to tell Yousef just the basics of Sana's room which made him a hundred percent sure that she is it.

The more it hurts now seeing her avoid his eyes and be so concentrated on Adam. Sana and Adam have always been good friends, bonding over their pretty similar humour and their interest in science. However, the way she looks at Adam and once in a while at Mikael, is different from that. 

They need to talk. Before her 18th birthday they had started hanging out a lot. They talked and texted a lot. Pretty much all day. He hates that there's this distance between them now. 

Okay, he thinks, now is the time. She's at home, he's here. None of them does anything in particular. They should talk now. He takes a deep breath and stands up.

Turns out the universe hates him.   
The same time he stands up, Sana's phone rings. She looks down on it and she quickly answers the call and leaves the room. He can't help himself and looks after her.

That evening he doesn't see her anymore. She leaves a few minutes after the call and tells Elias that she'll be home in an hour.  
Yousef waits an hour, even when the other guys decide to leave.   
Sana doesn't come home in an hour. She texts her brother that she'll be a bit late and to please tell their parents if necessary. So finally Yousef leaves, as well.

-

" **Are you at home? :)** "

Sana rereads this message once, twice, and many more times. 

Yousef sent her this message half an hour ago. She didn't see it until now. She was at the shop, getting something for her mother and did not look on her phone for a while. 

Now she's walking back home, without looking at where she's going. All she can look at is the message on her phone.

" **Walking home now** "

She sends the message and stops walking for a moment. Why? She doesn't really know herself. When they were sitting in the living room and Eva called, Sana had to leave right then but she did notice Yousef looking at her like he wanted to say something. Is this about that?

" **Do you have time to meet me? Only if you want, of course.** "

" **Right away?** ", Sana asks.

She's still standing in the middle of the sidewalk, just a few metres away from the shop she just left. Staring at her phone.

How is it possible that she's excited and anxious at the same time? She sees that he's typing and presses her lips together.

When he takes more than a minute to type, Sana thinks it might be better for her to start walking again. If she moves, she feels less ... unsure and anxious.

Her phone vibrates and her breath catches in her throat. Does she want to see what he texted her?

Who is she kidding? Of course.

This time she doesn't stop walking.

" **Yeah, if you want to.**

 **The basketball court in half an hour?** "

Sana doesn't think about it. If she does she will doubt her decision. Right now, she tries to text him back with one hand, still walking.

**I'll meet you th**

"Ow", she exclaims, dropping the bag of groceries, her hand going to her head.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!", the other person says.

Both of them look up at the same time and freeze.   
Sana's eyes widen and Yousef's mouth literally falls open.   
They both need a second to collect themselves and until they do, they stand only a step away from each other.

Sana is the first one to take a step back and shake her head to clear her thoughts. 

"Yousef.", she says breathlessly, "Hi."

"Hi.", he answers, smiling at her.

They both knee down to get the bag that Sana dropped. Yousef is faster and just takes the bag, ready to carry it.

"I was about to text you back.", Sana says, holding up her phone.

Yousef nods. He saw that Sana was typing and couldn't tear his eyes off the screen of his phone. That's why they walked into each other anyway. It's funny, really. They took turns in avoiding each other over the last couple of days and end up walking into each other randomly.

"So?", he asks, looking at Sana questioningly.

Sana knows what he means. So, are you up to meet me now? Not later.

"There's this coffee shop around the corner.", Sana suggests, still not really able to look Yousef in the eyes. 

Sana leads the way at first, with Yousef falling in step right next to her. He keeps stealing glances at her but all she looks at is the pavement they're walking on. Yousef tries to meet her eyes more than once but never succeeds. Sana is trying her best to not look at him.

Only when they have their coffees, Yousef can't wait any longer. If he does he will lose his confidence and end up not saying anything at all.

"Sana.", he says. 

Sana's eyes snap up from staring at her cup of coffee and she smiles weakly at him. She still can't look Yousef in the eyes. Her heart aches when she looks at him and has to think of Adam in that shirt. 

When Yousef starts talking again, Sana looks anywhere but at his face. At his cup of coffee, his hands playing with the lid of the cup, his leg bouncing up and down. 

"I need to tell you something.", Yousef says, taking a deep breath. 

He is really going to do this. Even when it can end in something that will ruin him. He needs to talk about this with her. She is the one that told him that it's easier to talk about things instead of bottling them up. 

The nerves get to him and suddenly he feels really warm. It's unbelievably cold outside and this café is not too warm either but he just feels like taking of his coat.

Sana's eyes follow that movement. He puts down his cup, opens his coat and finally takes it off. Yousef turns around in his seat to hang his coat over the backrest of the chair. 

What she sees makes her just talk without thinking. The first time today she actually looks at Yousef. 

"Why are you wearing Adam's shirt?"

She's looking at the long-sleeved, blue shirt. With the dark-grey and white splatters over one side. It's the exact same one. Sana is sure. 

Yousef looks down on himself but turns his gaze to Sana. He looks very confused. Confused because Sana is looking at him for the first time in days. Really looks at him. And confused because it sounds like it is a pressing question to her.

"I'm not...", he says, unsure why Sana sounded like it is an important thing what he's wearing.

Sana's eyes roam over the shirt once, twice, and then she looks up at Yousef. The confusion apparent on his face makes her doubt for a second. Still, she needs answers. 

"Adam wore it the other day.", Sana only states. 

Yousef picks the hem of the shirt and looks at it. The other day... oh, on New Years. 

Nodding, Yousef looks at Sana. She has the most serious look on her face while also looking very worried with her eyebrows furrowed.

"Yeah, the boys slept over at mine on New Year's Eve but Adam forgot to bring clothes for the next day so he just grabbed something of mine before we came to yours to film a video.", Yousef explains. 

He doesn't know why Sana's eyes widen, her mouth falls open and she looks so shocked that he fears that he did say something wrong without realizing. Wouldn't be the first time. 

Sana opens her mouth and closes it again, three times, without being able to say anything. Worried, Yousef goes to sit on the edge of his seat and leans a bit towards Sana. She keeps looking from his eyes to his shirt. 

"But.. he said that ...", Sana points to the paint splatters that turned out to look really good on the former plain blue shirt, "... happened while painting his walls."

Sana speaks slowly, confused, not really being able to understand anything because the pieces of information in her head don't fit together.

Yousef tries to think of the first of January, when the boys followed Elias home to film something for their YouTube channel. That day Yousef was so afraid that the boys would slip up and tell Sana what he has told them about her being his soulmate that he didn't pay much attention to anything else.

However, he remembers what Adam said.   
_"That happened when we painted the walls but it looks good and I somehow ended up wearing it today."_

Even though he doesn't understand what importance it has who wore what shirt Yousef answers Sana. 

"He said the walls. My walls. Around a week before your birthday I changed my room and the boys helped me paint the walls and build some furniture."

Sana lets Yousef's words sink in for a moment. She can't keep her eyes off of him now. The worried look on his face makes her want to cry. He cares so much even when Sana distances herself. 

One dark-grey wall, three white ones. 

The shirt that has paint splatters in those colours.

The boys painted Yousef's room. The boys painted Yousef's room in those exact colours. 

That shirt is Yousef's. Not Adam's. He just borrowed it. 

"Tell me, how did you paint your room?", Sana asks, so quietly that Yousef barely can hear her over the noise in the coffee shop. Sana is sitting on the edge of her seat now, leaning towards Yousef. 

"We saw that picture on the Internet so we painted one wall dark-grey and the rest white.", Yousef says, still not understanding what's going on. "Why?"

The next thing neither of them expected. Sana jumps out of her seat, almost spilling her coffee, and hugs Yousef. It happens fast and at first she doesn't realize what she's doing. Her arms wrapped around Yousef's neck, her face buried on his shoulder. 

At first Yousef doesn't know how to react. He stiffens. But then he notices Sana relax and slowly wraps his arms around her. His heart is beating so hard that Sana can probably feel it but he doesn't care. He doesn't even care what made her do this, he just cares that Sana feels comfortable enough with him to hug him. To hug him like this. 

Yousef doesn't know how long they are in that embrace for. At some point Sana leans back, still not moving too far away from Yousef. She looks him in the eyes and with the widest smile, showing off her dimples, she tells him what she just figured out.

"I think I saw your room.", her smile gets even bigger, "I think you're my soulmate!"


	6. Chapter 6

"I can't believe you! You knew all along and didn't tell me?", Sana exclaims, waving her arms around.

"Not all along. Just a few days."

"Do I look like I care? You should have told me!", Sana answers, her tone very serious.

"Sana, it was not my place to tell!"

Sana narrows her eyes at her older brother Elias, standing with her hands on her hips. 

"Elias, I went around for days thinking Adam is my soulmate while I knew that him and Mikael are ...", Sana stops herself. In her excitement and confusion she lost her verbal-filter for a second. 

She's not mad at her brother. Their conversation up until now has been with big smiles on both their faces and both of them trying to be somewhat serious. 

After Sana met Yousef and realized that he is her soulmate, not Adam, they talked for a very long time and finally came back to the Bakkoush house. Of course the other boys were already here so Sana had to drag her brother away from them to the kitchen. She didn't want to fight with him or anything, she only needed someone to share her excitement and happiness with and who better for that job than her brother.

But now, talking about Mikael and Adam she stops. It's none of her business. They could also be just friends; they haven't said anything to tell otherwise. But Sana is observant. Still, she stops talking because she knows the boys are not doing their own thing in the living room. They're probably trying to hear what the siblings are talking about in the kitchen.

Sana doesn't have to turn around to see that she is right. She only sees Elias' eyes widen and a sheepish smile appear on his lips. 

"Boys, eavesdropping is rude.", Elias says, raising his eyebrows at them. Honestly, it's just a way of trying to avoid an awkward tension after Sana's unfinished sentence. 

Slowly Sana turns around and dares to look at them. Relief washes over her when she sees that none of the boys look mad or embarrassed or angry. They all smile at her. Then her eyes meet Yousef's and Sana's smile grows. They keep smiling at each other until Mikael speaks out. 

"Sana, it's fine.", he looks at Adam, who is standing right next to him at the kitchen door, "We.."

Adam finishes his sentence: "... finally talked and we're kind of ... a thing now?"

With an unsure expression Adam looks at Mikael and when he smiles, so does Adam. Sana's heart melts for these two and she jumps up and down excitedly. 

This is brand new information for all the people in the room so the next few minutes are spend with hugs and congratulations. 

Sana hugs Adam and is really happy for him. He can see that. However, he doesn't miss this chance of teasing Sana. When they're hugging he whispers only for her to hear. 

"So, you thought I'm your soulmate?", Sana can hear the smirk in his voice.

She quickly parts from the hug and hits Adam's arm lightly. 

"That was only because you were wearing that shirt. How would I know? That was the only proper thing I saw from Yousef's room. Never borrow anything from Yousef again, please.", Sana answers, crossing her arms over her chest. 

Adam mimics her and crosses his arms over his chest like Sana did. He also looks at her with the same 'this-is-so-clear' look on his face. 

"Only because of the shirt? You don't think I'm soulmate material?", he tries to sound as hurt as possible but Sana sees right through it. 

She rolls her eyes and smirks at him: "Don't even try to tease me. You found someone who thinks of you that way and I found mine. It won't work."

Adam's eyes go to Mikael who is still wrapped in Mutta's arms and looks like he has trouble breathing. Both, Sana and Adam, laugh about it and then look at each other again. 

"Neither of us has seen our soulmate's room but I think I don't need that. We're fine now.", Adam says, looking very happy about where he is with Mikael now. This makes Sana smiles broadly. He doesn't give Sana a chance to answer anything to that. He continues talking.

"And I'm glad that you figured out that Yousef is your soulmate. You should have seen him talk about the possibility that you could be his soulmate. It was hilarious."

Sana raises her eyebrows in surprise and the tilts her head slightly, her eyes wandering over to Yousef and Elias who are now standing in the living room, whispering about something. 

"Do you happen to have any video footage of that?", Sana asks jokingly but when she looks back at Adam, she sees him grinning with a knowing look.

"Sana, don't forget who you're talking to. Of course! I instantly pulled my phone out when I understood what he was going to tell us. I'll send the video to you."  


-  


"Leave the door open!", Elias shouts after Sana and Yousef.

Sana rolls her eyes and Yousef just shakes his head smilingly.

The two of them have left the boys in the living room and now Sana is leading the way to her room. Right in front of her door Sana stops. Her hand on the door handle but she can't open the door right in that moment. 

Yes, they are pretty sure that Sana is Yousef's soulmate and that he is hers but what if she opens the door now and Yousef realizes it was not really her? It could happen.

"Sana?", Yousef asks, worry very apparent in his voice. He steps a little closer to be able to see Sana's face. She has a worry line in between her eyebrows which makes him also frown. 

"You know, I don't have to see your room now to be sure.", Yousef says in a soft voice, making Sana look at him. 

She just shakes her head, a small smile on her lips. Taking a deep breath she opens the door and whispers more to herself: "Okay, let's go."

Sana steps aside and lets Yousef walk into the room first. 

His eyes wander all around. All these years he has never been in Sana's room once. It was never a question because he didn't have a reason to. Her room is private and Yousef only ever was here as Elias' best friend. 

Now that he is looking around, the imagines he saw on his 18th birthday come back to him vividly. He remembers the exact tone of the blue walls, those he actually sees in front of him now.

His eyes fall onto the ground and he remembers the white carpet he saw. Not only on his birthday but also once when he was standing in front of Sana's room. Then he wasn't sure that it meant anything but now he is. 

With a smile his eyes go to the tall window with the white curtains. They look exactly like he remembers. 

The desk, the posters on the walls. He can see all of it clearer now and a wave of happiness overcomes him. Since Sana and him talked at that coffee shop a few hours ago he couldn't wipe the smile off his face but right now, right now it's on another level.

Even the books lying all around one end of the white carpet make Yousef happy. 

He turns around to face Sana. She sees his excited look and starts smiling. Yousef closes the distance between the two of them in two big steps. There's only a very small step in between them now. Yousef beams at Sana, unable to try and play it cool. He's just so happy. 

He is sure that Sana is his soulmate and she is sure that he is hers. 

"Can I hug you?", Yousef asks without thinking about it for even a second.

As soon as the words leave his mouth he regrets it. What kind of question is that? He shuts his eyes in embarrassment and shakes his head. Well done, Yousef. Go ahead and act like a 12 year-old in front of your soulmate, he thinks to himself. 

Then, however, he can sense something. He opens his eyes slowly and now Sana is closer. So close that their noses would touch if Yousef leaned down a little. Sana looks up at Yousef and he lowers his head a bit. 

Sana looks at her soulmate with wide eyes and smiles, showing off her dimples. Does she know that that smile makes Yousef so weak? 

She stands on her tiptoes and wraps her arms around Yousef's neck. His arms instantly circle her and resting on her back. They both have the biggest smiles on their faces and end up standing there until Adam calls for them when the food has arrived. 

-

"I'm just saying. How is it fair that you know who your soulmate is at age 18 and I don't know yet.", Elias says, waving around the spoon he's holding. 

Sana raises her eyebrows at her older brother and asks half-jokingly, half serious: "Is someone going through heartbreak?"

Elias head snaps up and he shakes his head. Well, that's not very convincing when his best friend laughs at that. 

Sana turns to Yousef, who is sitting on the chair right next to hers and looks at him questioningly. Their parents are sitting outside, in the Acar's backyard, but since the WIFI is a lot better inside the three of them decided to spend their time here. 

Yousef's parents had invited Sana's parents over for dinner. Thanks to Elias and Yousef being friends since kindergarten, their parents meet quite often with the boys just tagging along. Usually Sana wouldn't. She didn't have a reason to, before. Yousef was just her older brother's best friend and he did not have a sibling she was close with. 

Now it is different. 

Sana doesn't even realize how lovingly she looks at Yousef. But he does.  It makes his heart grow and he doesn't look away from her eyes for a while, just smiling. 

"Well, since the rest of the boys and I are in a relationship Elias feels left out.", Yousef explains, very aware that Sana is paying a lot of attention to him. It makes him nervous, in a good way.

Elias narrows his eyes at Yousef. "Traitor!"

Sana looks confused at that. She turns back to her brother and asks: "Since when do you have difficulties finding girls to date?" He might not tell his sister all the details but she knows enough.

"I don't.", Elias shrugs, "I just don't want to date around anymore just to date someone.", he continues, looking down on the table.

"Aww, my brother is growing up!", Sana says in a sickeningly sweet tone which makes Elias roll his eyes and Yousef smile fondly at her. "But wait! Who does Mutta have? Is he in a relationship?"

That would be brand new information to Sana. She knew that he was talking to Chris for a while and for Chris, who moves pretty fast with guys because that's how she likes it, they were honestly just talking for hours most times they met. 

"He thinks he knows who his soulmate is.", Yousef answers with a knowing smile. 

Sana gets really excited all of the sudden and sits up really straight and looks back and forth between the guys at the table. She's obviously waiting for some details but they don't say anything. 

So she sighs and asks: "So? Who is it? Please tell me it's Chris. Pleeease."

Elias and Yousef laugh at Sana's excitement and share a looks, both having a grin on their faces. Sana sees that and raises her eyebrows at them. 

"Don't torture me here! Tell me!"

Elias is the one to answer: "Mutta thinks it's Chris."

As soon as Sana hears that she jumps up and claps, happy for her friends. Chris will be so happy about this when she finds out. Of course Sana won't be the one to tell her, that's something they have to figure out on their own but Sana is so happy that she can't sit still. She walks a few steps up and down and it itches in her fingertips to just text Chris. But she can't and won't. 

"You want to tell her, don't you?", Yousef asks Sana.

She nods and opens her mouth to answer but Elias beats her to it.

"But you can't and you know that. So, don't you two have a room to look at? That still didn't happen. It'd be good to distract Sana from trying to text Chris."

Sana wants to retort with a sarcastic comment but he's right. She still hasn't seen Yousef room. Yousef looks at Sana, silently asking if she wants to and she nods. So he stands up and holds out a hand to her. She looks down at it and forgetting that Elias is with them in the room she takes it and intertwines their fingers. 

Once they are in the hallway, Sana smiles to herself because of the tingly feeling she gets whenever Yousef holds her hand, they hear Elias call after them. 

"Leave the door open!"

Yousef leads the way and rolls his eyes at his best friend while Sana shakes her head smilingly. 

Without hesitating a second Yousef opens the door to his room and lets Sana walk in in front of him.

Sana walks in and stops in the middle of the room.   
The dark-grey wall is the only thing she can look at for a moment.   
It's just a wall, nothing special, but it makes her heart beat faster. That damn grey wall was the only thing on her mind for a lot of days.

One or two minutes later she can finally move her head.

She sees that the other three walls are indeed white; she sees the shelves with a lot of video games right next to the window.

She sees more details than she did on her birthday.   
Family pictures and pictures with the boys are at different spots of the room, sports clothes and equipment in one corner and a few books on a smaller shelf.

Then, she sees  _that_  shirt hanging over the same chair as on her birthday.

That blue long-sleeved shirt with the dark-grey and white splatters on one side.

That one shirt that made Sana think there was a possibility that someone but Yousef was her soulmate.

Now she is sure that it's him. It's Yousef.

Turning around to him, who's watching her with a fond smile on his face, she starts smiling even more broadly.

They stand there, looking into each other's eyes communicating their happiness just through their look.

Out of nowhere Sana breaks the silence.

"Can I have that shirt?", she says, pointing to the shirt hanging over the back of the chair.

"Wow.", Yousef says, laughing sarcastically and shakes his head. "I asked you if I could hug you and you ask for my shirt."

Sana rolls her eyes at him and steps a little closer. She looks up a bit, meeting Yousef's gaze.

"I was planning on giving that to you anyway.", Yousef almost whispers, obviously pleasantly affected by this close proximity.

"Well, apparently great minds do think alike.", Sana answers in the same whisper tone.

"And when those great minds happen to be soulmates it's even more likely."

Have they gotten closer? Are they standing at the same spot as two minutes ago?

It doesn't matter. Either way, neither of them notices anything but their soulmate.

Trying to contain her smile, Sana raises her eyebrows as she asks.

"Do you still want that hug?"

Yousef presses his lips together. His eyes search Sana's face like he wants to memorize every single tiny detail of it.

Slowly he nods and waits for Sana to make the first move.

Standing up on her tiptoes Sana wraps her arms around Yousef's neck. He hugs her as tightly as she hugs him and rests his chin on her shoulder.

"I'm happy that you're my soulmate."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it. The final part of this AU. Thank you for reading!! x


End file.
